Author Archives: Leo Kolivakis

The NYT reports that President Obama’s chief auto adviser, Steven Rattner, has stepped down: Steven Rattner is quitting his post as President Obama’s chief adviser on the troubled automobile industry at a time when an investigation into his former Wall Street firm’s role in a scandal involving public pension funds has intensified. Mr. Rattner, who […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. A former colleaugue of mine, Keith Porter, posted an excellent entry on Luc Vallée’s blog on bonuses and benchmarks: I would like to pick up some of the themes Leo Kolivakis has been pursuing on Pension Pulse about bonuses in the industry. Let me start with a […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. From Big Blue’s pension blues, we go to public sector pension blues. Bloomberg reports that New Jersey’s pension asset value dropped 19% last fiscal year: New Jersey’s pension assets fell 19 percent during the fiscal year that ended June 30, the board overseeing the funds said. The […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. The Independent reports that IBM is ready to close its UK final salary pension scheme: IBM has become the latest company planning to turn its back on final salary pension payouts. The computer systems group is consultung staff about proposals to close its UK scheme, which would […]

Submited by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. Off vacationing in Crete so I will keep it short and sweet. Noticed stocks got hammered again on Tuesday. I would be buying those dips, especially on solars (LDK and YGE). A few pension articles for you. The Toronto Star reports that pension panic subsiding. The Financial […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. I hope every Canadian enjoyed their time off July 1st for Canada Day. I am off to the Land of Zorba tomorrow (the island of Crete) for the baptism of my three nephews. I am looking forward to being with my family but I dread the hustle […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse.A follow-up on my last comment where I criticized the Financial Post article, Bonus flap puts Canada Pension’s strategy at risk. While it is true that paying hefty fees to external managers costs large pension funds hundreds of millions, the article makes it seem as if CPPIB is […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. I begin with a message from Diane Urquhart: You are welcome to put links on your Pension Pulse blog to these letters between Parliamentary Secretary of Finance Ted Menzies and myself. They are about whether preferred status for pension fund deficits and severance would increase the cost […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. In my last comment on the ‘Golden Cross‘, I warned people not to be overly reliant on technical signals. Someone on Naked Capitalism commented that it is better to use the exponential 50 and 200 day moving averages, which lends more weight to more recent data. While […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. My favorite strategist, Martin Roberge of Dundee Securities, sets the record straight on the Golden Cross in his latest strategy comment: Much has been said about the positive implications of this week’s Golden Cross (GC) on the S&P 500. However, little emphasis has been put on downside […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. More on pensions apartheid. Bill Tufts of Fair Pensions for All sent me this Globe and Mail blog entry, In feudal age of pensions, renaissance must come: He calls it our “Modern Feudal System.” A system where a few have a lot and the majority have – […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. Let me begin by wishing all Quebecers “une bonne Fête nationale”. I hope you enjoyed St-Jean Baptiste celebrations on this glorious sunny day in Quebec. In my last post, I discussed the global pension crisis and how it might lead to a long social crisis. Today I […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. The FT reports that the OECD warns on pension crisis: Strains in pensions systems, in both private and public provision, threaten to turn the financial crisis of the past two years into a social crisis lasting for decades, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned on […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. A surprisingly bleak forecast for the world economy pushed stocks to their biggest loss in two months. Major stock indexes tumbled by more than 2 percent Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 201 points, after the World Bank estimated the global economy will shrink 2.9 […]

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. I was going to write about the markets, but it’s Father’s Day so I want to share something with you my dad gave me, a Newsweek article by Peter Peterson, Why I’m Giving Away $1 Billion: In 2007 the company I cofounded, the Blackstone Group, held a […]